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Date: 2018-04-29

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The School of Music recently sent 23 students to the NATS Mid-South vocal competition.

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By Naudia O’Steen

Lee University School of Music (SOM) recently sent 23 students to the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Mid-South vocal competition at the University of Northern Kentucky. Several Lee SOM voice faculty also attended and served as judges.

Students competed against universities from Kentucky and Tennessee, such as the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and University of Kentucky. Categories ranged from high school through each collegiate level up to post-graduate students competing at the post-advanced level.

“NATS weekend is stressful and tiring, but also energizing and inspiring,” said Tony Deaton, voice instructor at Lee. “I am certain it is a very positive experience for our students. I believe they come away inspired to be better.”

Several Lee students advanced to the semi-final round with two Lee students, John Mburu and Caitlin Overton, moving on to win first place in the final round.

Mburu won first place in the junior men, classical category and will advance to national auditions this summer at the National NATS Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Overton won first place in the senior women musical theatre category.

“It’s an exciting victory for Lee University, as well as myself, to have the chance to represent the institution on a national level,” said Mburu. “I believe the critical thing to remember is that it all comes from God--my talents, the energy I use to try to perfect the talent, and the results of the competition entirely belong to Him before they belong to me.”

Lee alumna, Caitlin Hammon Moore, won first place in the women’s post-advanced category.

For more information about Lee’s School of Music, call (423) 614-8247.

The School of Music recently sent 23 students to the NATS Mid-South vocal competition.
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Date: 2017-07-21

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Teen Talent will take place on campus July 31 - August 4.

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On July 31-Aug. 4, Lee University will host the 2017 Church of God Teen Talent, an international competition which aims to help young people ages 13-19 discover their talents, develop that talent, and dedicate it to better serve the Lord. Over 5,000 individuals will compete in 43 categories over the course of five days, featuring competition in music, art, drama, multimedia, creative writing, and Bible.

“This season’s response has been overwhelming with a record number of entries from the United States, Canada, Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica, and South Africa,” said Dr. David Blair, international youth and discipleship director. “We can’t wait to see the results of practice coupled with passion in this talented generation.”

Dr. Mike Hayes, Lee’s vice president for student development, oversees the university’s role in Teen Talent along with more than 200 staff members and students. Lee will award over $100,000 of scholarships to winners and house approximately 1,300 guests from around the world for this event.

“Hosting these talented youth on our campus provides a glimpse of the future of the Church,” said Hayes. “We look forward to being inspired by them and encouraging them in continuing to develop their gifts to impact others.”

Lee-coordinated activities for Teen Talent include a block party, a worship rally, a Lee music showcase, and Battle of the States, a competition in which participants divide into teams, based on state, region, or country, and compete against one another.

The Teen Talent Awards Festival will take place on Friday, Aug. 4 at 8 p.m. on the lawn of Lee’s Science and Math Complex and will welcome more than 4,000 guests, including participants and their families.

Throughout the week, Lee will live stream Teen Talent on multiple web-based channels. To view the streaming sessions, visit streaming and click on the links provided.

For more information about Teen Talent or to view a schedule of events, visit COG Teen Talent or call (423) 614-8400.

Roger Shen took first place in Lee's piano competition for the collegiate division.

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Roger Shen took first place in the 13th annual Lee University piano competition for the collegiate division. The award ceremony concluded the International Piano Festival and Competition held June 11-17 on Lee’s campus.

Third place was awarded to Chin-An Lin, with an honorable mention going to Tzu-Jung Peng. For the pre-collegiate division, rather than traditional first, second, and third place awards, three second prizes were awarded this year to Jimmy Liu, Min Shu Tsai, and Ana Yam.

Finalists were chosen from a field of nine outstanding young pianists, all of whom also participated in the week-long festival. The festival’s 19 participants enjoyed performances by world-renowned guest artists Mirian Conti, Dmitri Vorobiev, Pei-Chun Liao, and Jonathan Jung. Participants also worked closely with Lee University's own faculty members Phillip Thomas and Cahill Smith.

This year, participants engaged with the faculty in group lessons and master classes, in addition to classes in chamber music, piano literature, music career skills, and historical performance.“We had a wonderful week of amazing piano music,” said Thomas. “Participants and faculty alike expressed anticipation for next year's Festival.”

Shen is a 19-year-old student from Northbrook, Illinois, who recently graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy. Shen was one of the 23 competitors for the First Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition. A first prize winner in Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) competitions in Illinois and New Hampshire, he has been featured on WFMT 98.7, a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, and performed in two recitals at Carnegie Hall. He is the winner of the 2016 Miami International Piano Festival Academy and the 2017 David D. Dubois Piano Competition.

Lin, 18, began studying piano at age five in her native country, Taiwan. She majors in piano and minors in clarinet at the University of Taipei. She played her first piano recital when she was 12, and since then, has participated in numerous masterclasses, which provided her with diverse ideas and inspiration. Lin studies with Pei-Chun Liao and aspires to become a professional pianist.

Peng, 21, was born in Taiwan and began playing piano at the age of five. He currently studies at University of Taipei with Pei-Chun Liao. He has also taken lessons and masterclasses with Hong Xu, Jean-Marc Luisada, Geoffrey Duce, Philip Martin, and Lena Ching.

Liu, from Johnson City, Tennessee, is 16 years old and a sophomore at Science Hill High School. He has won many MTNA and Tennessee Music Teachers Association state competitions, and he won the Tennessee Tech University Young Artist Piano Competition in 2016. This year, Liu and his duet partner Mary Nerren, also a participant in this year’s piano festival, won the Tennessee State Senior Piano Duet Competition, the Southern Division Competition, and the Weekley and Arganbright National Piano Duet Competition. He currently studies piano from Esther Park and violin with David Kovac at East Tennessee State University.

Tsai, 17, was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She began her piano studies with Chia-Ho Cheng at the age of six. In 2012, she performed in the Xiamen-Taiwan Suzuki Method Friendship Concert in Xiamen, China. In 2015, she attended the Tenth European Suzuki Convention in Davos, Switzerland. Tsai has performed in masterclasses with Julian Jacobson and Philip Martin. She currently studies with Pei-Chun Liao.

Yam is a 14-year-old student from San Francisco, California. She began studying piano with her current teacher Larisa Kanevski in 2012. She won the Iowa Music Teachers Association Piano Competition Level A and Level F. She also won the Central Iowa Symphony’s Young Artist Competition and has subsequently performed with the orchestra. Later, Yam took first place at the MTNA Division Junior Competition. At her middle school, she sings in the chorus and plays the viola in the orchestra.

For information on the annual Lee University International Piano Festival and Competition, contact Lee’s School of Music at (423) 614-8240 or visit Lee Piano.

Roger Shen took first place in Lee's piano competition for the collegiate division.
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Date: 2017-06-06

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The School of Music will present its 13th Annual International Piano Festival and Competition on June 11-17.

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Lee University’s School of Music will present its 13th Annual International Piano Festival and Competition on June 11-17.

The event, which began in 2005 as a competition for high school students, was expanded in 2011 to include opportunities for participants to study with internationally-acclaimed artists. At the same time, it offers the public a chance to take in some brilliant performances. The competition is divided into two levels: pre-college and college.

This year’s festival will welcome 20 outstanding young pianists, ranging in age from 13-25, to the Lee campus. The participants come from five different states in the U.S. and eight from People’s Republic of China.

Highly-praised performers and teachers Mirian Conti, Dmitri Vorobiev, and Pei-Chun Liao are the guest artists for this year’s festival. Lee faculty members Cahill Smith and Phillip Thomas will serve as artistic director and executive director of the festival, respectively.

“I am pleased to work with newly-appointed Artistic Director Cahill Smith,” said Thomas, music professor and chair of Lee’s Department of Musicianship Studies. “Dr. Smith has assembled an impressive faculty who will engage a record number of talented Festival participants.”

Guest artists and participants will present recitals, which are free and open to the public. Conti will perform Monday, June 12, in Squires Recital Hall. On Tuesday, June 13, Vorobiev will present a recital in the Lee Chapel. Festival students will perform in Pangle Hall on Wednesday, and Liao will perform on Thursday evening in Squires Recital. All recitals begin at 7:30 p.m.

On Friday, June 16 at 3 p.m. in Squires Recital Hall, Michael Shinn of the Juilliard School will teach a special master class using a DCFX Disklavier PRO concert grand piano, provided by the Yamaha Corp. of America. This unique instrument, which transmits performance data over the internet, will allow Shinn to hear Festival students’ exact performances–with the piano’s keys and pedals moving up and down to capture the subtlest nuance in real time--on a DCFX at Yamaha’s facility in New York City. The session is also open to the public.

Earlier in the week, Festival participants will have the opportunity to learn from faculty and guest artists in lessons and masterclasses. New to this year’s festival are classes on piano literature, historical performance, and career skills, as well as round table discussions with artist faculty. Additionally, prizes have doubled with $10,000 total in cash awards.

The pre-college competition will begin Wednesday, June 14, at 10:30 a.m. in Squires Recital Hall, and the college division will convene Thursday, June 15, at 10 a.m. Winners will be presented on Friday evening, June 16, following the competition’s final round, which begins at 7:30 p.m.

Mirian Conti

Conti, a Yamaha artist and Argentine/American pianist, is praised for her prolific recording output and international concerts. In 2005-6, she was selected as one of the 100 Outstanding Alumni to celebrate The Juilliard School's Centennial. Conti has made solo, orchestral, and chamber appearances throughout the U.S. and abroad, including her native land, Argentina. Committed to promoting the classical piano literature of Latin America, Spain, and the U.S., Conti has organized competitions, directed festivals, and promoted careers of young musicians through masterclasses and special prizes. She is on the faculty of the Evening Division at the Julliard School and the piano faculty at Brooklyn College.

Dmitri Vorobiev

A native of Moscow, Russia, Vorobiev has been a major prize winner in the Busoni, Cincinnati World, Ibla Grand Prize, A.M.A. Calabria, Iowa, and Alabama international piano competitions. He maintains a dynamic concert schedule and one of his current projects is performing complete solo piano works by Beethoven. As a frequent recording artist with the Blue Griffin label, Vorobiev’s most recent production is a double CD set with selected works by Liszt. An acclaimed soloist, he is also an active chamber music player. Vorobiev is an associate professor of piano at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the founder and artistic director of the Midwestern Piano Competition.

Pei-Chun Liao

Liao, a Taiwanese pianist, performs internationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has made appearances at prestigious venues around the world including her United Kingdom debut at Birmingham Symphony Hall, Manchester Peel Hall, Salle Cortot, and Rachmaninoff Hall, among others. Liao is a prize winner of numerous competitions, including the Taipei Chopin International Competition, the Taiwan Young Artist Competition, the Kellaway Piano Recital Competition, and more. In 2009, she was selected as Young Star of National Concert Hall, and more recently, she gave a recital tour “I wish” in Taiwan, China, England, and Germany. Liao is currently an assistant professor at University of Taipei, Taiwan.

Dr. Cahill Smith

Smith, who started playing piano at age 10, earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance at the Eastman School of Music. He has performed in recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and been featured as soloist with the National Ukranian Symphony Orchestra in Kiev. Smith’s programming of works by Russian composer Nikolai Medtner has attracted the attention of audiences and critics. He has performed at numerous venues including the Royal Dublin Society’s concert hall and the Aspen Music Festival’s Harris Hall. Smith currently serves as an assistant professor of piano at Lee.

Dr. Phillip Thomas

Thomas has served as chair for the Festival since it began. He has studied piano, music history, and conducting at some of the world’s finest institutions and has also served as adjudicator for a variety of competitions on the local, regional, and international levels. He has also appeared as harpsichord soloist with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra.

For more information on the Lee University International Piano Festival and Competition, contact the Department of Musicianship Studies at 423-614-8264, music@leeuniversity.edu or visit Festival.

The competition concludes a week of concerts and professional instruction. Of the festival’s 19 participants, 11 will showcase their skills in the pre-college competition: Yoonseo Choi, Eriko Darcy, Kimiko Darcy, Yuy Hsiang, Vincent Liu, Joseph Mullen, Mia Pattillo, Jonathan Reichenberger, Tianhao Wu, Christine Yang, and Ailun Zheng. Two students will participate in the college competition: ChihYun Hsiao and Yun Lu.

The official opening of the piano competition for pre-college students will take place Thursday at 10 a.m. in Squires Hall, located in Lee’s Humanities Center. At the conclusion of Thursday’s round, pre-college finalists will be selected to perform in the final round on Saturday at 10 a.m. These finalists will perform an entirely new program for this year’s judges – Ning An, Enrico Elisi, Shen Lu, Mack McCray, and Cahill Smith. The college competition will take place on Thursday evening at 7:30.

Prizewinners for both rounds will be named directly following the pre-college final round Saturday. Prizes for the pre-college competition will be $1,500 for first place, $1,000 for second place, and $500 for third place. College competitors are vying for a $1,500 first place prize.

Choi is 16 years old and lives in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He attends Los Osos High School, where he is the secretary and ambassador of the National Society of High School Scholars and a member of the National Honor Society. He started learning the piano at age ten with Elvin Rodriguez. A Young Artist Guild member of the Music Teacher Association of California (MTAC), he has received first prize in the Los Angeles Young Musicians International Competition and the Piano Solo Competition of the State Convention Final Auditions from MTAC. He won the Steinway Society Award Festival twice and received the gold medal from the Southern California Junior Bach Festival three times.

Eriko Darcy is 14 years old and will begin high school this fall at the Latin School of Chicago. She studies piano with Brenda Huang. Eriko is the winner of the Chicago Area Steinway Young Artist Competition, the 2010 Seattle International Piano Competition Youth Division, and the 2015 DePaul University Concerto Competition. She has performed twice at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as first prize winner of the 2011 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition and the 2010 American Fine Arts Festival. Earlier this year, she performed a solo program on WFMT Chicago’s “Introductions” and with the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Texas State Young Artist Concerto Competition. Her fundraising recitals support the victims of domestic violence in Chicago.

Kimiko Darcy is 11 years old, attends the Catherine Cook School in Chicago, and studies piano with Brenda Huang. She has won first prizes at the 2012 and 2014 Music Festival in Honor of Confucius, the Sejong Music Competition, the 2015 DePaul University Concerto Competition, and the 2015 Emilio Del Rosario Piano Concerto Competition (Elementary Division). She performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as the first prize winner of the 2014 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and has also appeared on WFMT, Chicago’s classical radio station. Most recently, she performed with Round Rock Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Texas State Young Artist Concerto Competition. Her fundraising concerts support the victims of domestic violence and Chicago’s uptown community.

Hsiang, 15 years old, began studying piano at age four and currently studies with S. C. Frederic Hsiang. Yuy Hsiang is the grand winner in the National League Showcase Competition; top prize winner in the Enkor Competition; and first prize winner in the International Young Artist Piano Competition, the ChampPiano (High School Division), the Atlanta Romantic Competition, the Atlanta Sonata Competition, and the GMEA (Georgia Music Educators Association) and GMT (Georgia Music Teachers Association). He has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Barbara Kirby Hall, and the Savannah International Conference Center, and was invited to perform a concert at the Cobb Energy Center at age nine. He has played in masterclasses with William DeVan, Dennis Alexander, Alexander Kobrin, Ning An, and Peter Takács.

Liu, a junior at Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon, California, studies piano with Hans Boepple. He has won first prizes in the state CAPMT Honors Competition, the Ross McKee Piano Competition, the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Celia Mendez Young Pianist’s Beethoven Competition, the Menuhin-Dowling Competition, and the Sylvia M. Ghiglieri Piano Competition. He has also won prizes and awards at the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition and the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition. A former participant in the Colburn School Young Artists Summer Academy, he will attend the John Perry Summer Academy and the Tanglewood Institute’s Young Pianist Program this year.

Mullen is 17 years old and is from Athens, Georgia. He studies piano with Richard Zimdars.

Pattillo, 17, recently graduated from The Westminster Schools and plans to attend Brown University this fall. She has been playing piano since age four and currently studies with Elena Cholakova of Emory University. Her accomp¬lishments include winning first place in the GMTA State Competition, MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) and GMTA for Georgia, GMEA, and the Rachel Howard Sonata Competition, and second place in the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition. She has performed for the Atlanta Steinway Society, was a featured performer with the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra as well as the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, and has performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She also enjoys reading and playing tennis.

Reichenberger is 15 years old and has received numerous local, state, and regional awards in the Florida Federation of Music Clubs and Florida State Music Teachers Association. He was the first place winner for six consecutive years in the Pompano Beach Piano Competition. He was also a winner of the International Young Musicians Festival and performed at Carnegie Hall. In 2014, Reichenberger won the first place in the Louisiana International Piano Junior Competition, and he and his brother were awarded Alternate in the MTNA Southern Division Senior Duet Piano Competition in 2015. Last summer, he received second place in the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition.

Wu, 16, began playing piano at age five. In 2011, he was admitted to The Affiliated High School of Tianjin Conservatory of Music. He has participated in many piano festivals and played in masterclasses with John Perry, Antonio Pomapa-Baldi, Aleksander Korsantia, and Eduardo Delgado. Wu won the first prize in the National Finals of the Fourth International Piano Competition for the Teenagers, the Gold Award in the Fourth Singapore International Chinese Art Festival Piano Competition, and is the Champion of Professional Teenagers Group of the Helen Piano European National Music College Piano Competition for Teenagers.

Yang, 16, has been playing piano since age five. She is from Atlanta, Georgia, where she studies piano with Elena Cholakova. In 2012, she became a conference recitalist at the GMEA and performed at the convention in Savannah, Georgia. She performed at Carnegie Hall for the 2013 International Piano and Strings Competition. As a freshman in high school, she co-won the 2015 Atlanta Music Club Scholarship for the high school keyboard division and was awarded a scholarship for her GMTA audition. In 2015, she studied at the Brevard Music Center and was invited to perform at a fundraising gala with platinum sponsors. Yang won GMEA Allstate and performed at Carnegie Hall again after winning the International Competition of Romantic Music.

Zheng is 17 years old and is a junior at the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she is a student of Thomas Lymenstull. Previously, she studied at the Shanghai Conservatory. Zheng won first prize at the Fourth Chinese Music International Competition in Japan and in the 71st Steinway International Youth Piano Competition, East China Division. At Interlochen, she won the 2015 Concerto Competition and was the MTNA Senior Piano Competition winner for Michigan in 2014. Zheng participated in the Shanghai International Piano Festival & Institute, the Perugia Music Festival, and has studied with Boris Slutsky and Yong Hi Moon at the Bowdoin Music Festival. She has also received awards in horseback riding in China.

Hsiao, 17, was born and raised in Taiwan, where she started her music education at an early age. She has participated in regional, national, and international competitions and gave her first public solo recital in 2012. Two of the most renowned colleges in Taiwan selected her for admission as a top applicant for collegiate entrance exams in 2015. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at Eastman School of Music where she studies with Enrico Elisi. Hsiao gave her second recital in March of this year at the Eastman School of Music’s Ciminelli Formal Lounge.

Lu is 19 years old and is also from Taiwan where she began studying piano at age four. She has won the first prize at the 2015 PianoTexas Young Artists Concerto Competition and the second prize at the 2015 Music Teachers National Association Competition (Senior Division). Lu made her orchestral debut at age 14 with the Taiwan Youth Orchestra. She has played recitals in Taiwan, France, and United States. Lu participated at the Walnut Hill Music Festival, Academie Internationale d'Ete de Nice, Formosa Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and PianoTexas Festival. She has played in masterclasses for Arie Vardi, Veda Kaplinsky, Dang Thai Son, Piotr Paleczny, and Eugen Indijic. She currently studies with Ning An at Lee University.

For more information on the Lee University International Piano Festival and Competition, contact Lee’s Department of Musicianship Studies at 614-8264, music@leeuniversity.edu or visit Piano Festival.

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The Academic Sector is made up of six colleges and schools: the College
of Arts & Sciences, the Helen DeVos College of Education, the School of Business, the
School of Music, the School of Religion, and the School of Nursing.